Missouri Public Schools Announce Mandatory Dyslexia Screening in Public Schools

We recently shared an article about how a girl almost flunked out of school because they forgot to test her for dyslexia. The author shared that “She was not doing homework or projects and her grades were dropping FAST. She had never had an F and now she was getting multiples. We were angry because we were working hard to pay for this school and felt she was wasting our money. There were threats to pull her from the school. There were tears and promises, but it just got worse.”Sadly, this isn’t a rare occurrence. According to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, “One in five people have dyslexia. This percentage is virtually the highest among all neuro-cognitive disorders. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability.”

Often, people with dyslexia remain undiagnosed for years while they struggle with reading. As with all learning differences and difficulties, early intervention is key. The sooner a person knows that he’s dyslexic, the sooner that the schools and parents are able to find different strategies to help the child learn to read. In our personal experience, children aren’t even considered for testing until third grade.

Gov. Jay Nixon signed a bill that requires the screening of every public school student for dyslexia starting in the 2018-19 school year. Screenings would be informal and brief, leading to earlier detection. The measure also mandates that teachers receive two hours of training on methods to address the disorder, and that a 20-member task force recommend how classroom services should be delivered.

Some classroom accommodations can be put in place immediately.

In the meantime, here’s what parents should look for in young children, according to Decoding Dyslexia:

difficulty with the alphabet

trouble with rhyming words like cat, mat and bat

delayed speech

difficulty learning to tie shoes

trouble with sight words

trouble learning address or phone number

Read more about parents who have children with dyslexia. Break the Parenting Mold has several first-hand stories that will touch you and teach you. Excerpts below.

Last year, there was an elephant in the living room, and that elephant was Dyslexia.

This year, with a new school year looming, denial was no longer an option. With the threat of another year of tantrums, and tears, I stepped outside of my comfort zone to seek an answer. I believed I saw the signs of dyslexia, but my heart was conflicted.

You see, every day my son is tackled by letters and words. They are a mean bunch, pushing him around and sometimes tackling him to the ground. It started in Kindergarten, when he would come home from school, head hung low mumbling, “I’m so stupid. I’m so dumb.” When the school recommended he be held back, we brought him home for school and spent the next year starting back at the beginning, working at his pace, and erasing the narrative in his head that told him he couldn’t learn anything.